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Effect of long chain fatty acids removal as a pretreatment on the anaerobic digestion of food waste

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Abstract

This study investigated the effect of long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) removal as a pretreatment prior to anaerobic digestion on the production of methane from food waste. The results showed that the anaerobic digestion of food waste containing 1.6 g COD/L of LCFAs was not inhibited (4 days lag-time, 78.3 % methane recovery in 35 days) compared to that of lipid free food waste (3 days lag time, 72.5 % methane recovery in 35 days); however, some unsaturated LCFAs, which are toxic to microorganism, were accumulated in the batch anaerobic digestion reactor. Meanwhile, in a methanogenic activity study, the activity of methanogens was observed to be linearly inhibited by the presence of more than 1 g COD/L of LCFAs. The possibility of the accumulation of unsaturated LCFAs in the reactor should be considered when operating a large-scale continuous system.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support from the SNU SIR Brain Korea 21 research program and Brain Korea 21 project funded by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development. Also, the Engineering Research Institute and Integrated Research Institute of Construction and Environmental Engineering technically supported this study.

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Correspondence to Jae Young Kim.

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Cho, H.S., Moon, H.S., Lim, J.Y. et al. Effect of long chain fatty acids removal as a pretreatment on the anaerobic digestion of food waste. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 15, 82–89 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-012-0092-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-012-0092-7

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